PIUGRIM 
rATHBRS." 



^^^yr 



1898 




Glass L H^^y 
Book _*Xi2_ - 




Hon. Newton Bateman, L,L. D. 



"OUR 

PILGRIM 

rATHBRS. 

A SYMPOSIUM. 



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Illinois State Teachers' Association 
'' Sprinyfield, Illinois, 
Dec. 28, 1897. 



GALKSBUKG, ILL. 
THE WAGONEK PKINTING CO. 



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The education of a people is a problem of transcendent magnitude 
and moment. Into it there enter, as into no other, the elements of 
national destiny. In the presence of it, the petty issues that divide and 
embattle political parties, are dwarfed into insignificance. Compared 
with it, other questions of national concern are local, ephemeral — it 
alone is all-embracing- and everlasting in its sweep and grasp, because it 
enfolds the life itself of the state, in the shaping and moulding of the 
character of its citizens. — Bateman. 



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Preface. 

The Illinois State Teachers' Association was 
org-anized in Blooming-ton, December 26, 1853. 
Throug-h its influence came the State Superintend- 
ency, the County Superintendency, the Normal 
Schools, the State University, and even the school 
system itself. Thoug-h the first act establishing- 
free schools in Illinois was passed by the General 
Assembly in 1825, yet the means of support were so 
uncertain that it was not till the Free School Act 
of 1855 had become a law that the school system 
was placed upon a firm basis. 

The men who laid the foundation of our common 
school system have mostly passed away, but there 
remain a few who were leaders in those days, and 
whom the teachers of the State still revere. That 
the teachers of to-day mig-ht hear the story of those 
times from the actors themselves, it was suggested 
by Mr. A. V. Greenman, Superintendent of West 
Aurora Schools and Chairman of the Executive 
Committee for 1897, to bring- these educational pio- 
neers before the Association once more. Accord- 
ing-ly the closing- session of the State Teachers' 
Association, held at Springfield, 111., Dec. 28-30, 
1897, was given to a symposium ^ — "Our Pilgrim 



4 "Our Pilgkim Fathers." 

Fathers." Mr. E. A. Gastman, Superintendent of 
Schools, Decatur, 111., presided and introduced the 
speakers with a pleasant bit of personal reminis- 
cence, which will be found preceding- each address. 
The speakers were g-iven the closest attention, and 
the audience seemed to realize that thej were not 
merely listeners, but witnesses of an historic event 
never to be repeated. So impressed were they that, 
at the close, they unanimously voted to publish the 
entire proceeding's of the evening- as a further con- 
tribution of the Association to the educational his- 
tory of Illinois. 

Executive Committee : 

W. L. Steele, Galesburg-, 111. 
Miss Martha Buck, Carbondale, 111. 
David Felmley, Normal, 111. 

GaIcshnro; III., March, iSgS. 




E. A. Gastman. 
( Supt. of Schools, Decatur, 111., 

PRESIDING OFFICER. 



When the experience of the race becomes that of every individual, — 
when every man moves step by step to the grand music of human 
prog-ress.— when every man's now is his g-olden moment, the brightest 
and best in his experience, — the most redolent of good deeds and noble 
purposes; it will require no additional legislation to establish among 
men the true, the never ending m\Uen\um.—Echvarifs. 




Hon. Kichaki) Edwards, D. D., LL. D. 



THE PRESIDENT'S INTRODUCTION OF 
DR. EDWARDS. 

There has been much speculation about the name 
that should be g-iven to the exercises of this evening-. 
Some have insisted that it was "a collection of 
fossils," others that it was a display intended to 
illustrate "the social life of past historic g-enera- 
tions," but others more thoug-htful and kindly in 
speech, have called it the "g-athering- of the snow 
birds." And I now take very g-reat pleasure in 
introducing- to you one of the most illustrious of 
the flock. Dr. Richard Edwards. 



ADDRESS OF DR. EDWARDS. 

I UNDERSTAND the purpose of this sympos- 
ium to be the bring-ing- up of some of the 
characteristics of the olden time education, 
and the comparing- of them with modern conditions. 
It is fair to presume that those who take part in 
the discussion are to recall their earliest educa- 
tional experience. In my own case, this will neces- 
sitate g-oing- beyond the boundary of the United 
States. At the age of seven or eig-ht years I became 
a pupil in one of the old country schools for chil- 
dren. The spoken lang-uag-e of the people was not 
the Eng^lish, but it was considered the proper thing-, 
in teaching- the children, to use Eng-lish books, and 
also as much of the Eng-lish speech as they could be 
induced to remember. The Eng-lish New Testament 
was very early introduced as a reading- book. In the 
pronunciation of words we were not enslaved by 
Eng-lish custom. No one seemed to think that we 
oug-ht to understand the thoug-ht in what we read, 
except, possibly, in a very vag-ue and g-eneral way. 
The sig-nilicance of only a very few English words 
was known to us. Among- the matters which we 
were required to commit to memory, was the cate- 
chism of the established church. But as already 
stated, it conveyed no meaning- to us. We repeated 

9 



10 "Oi'K Pii.GKiM Fath?:k.s." 

it with our peculiar pronunciation, and all seemed 
to be satisfied with our performance. In order to 
relieve ourselves of the monotony of unintellig-ible 
repetition, we sometimes took the liberty of con- 
verting- the prose into metrical feet. Sometimes 
the number of syllables in the sentence did not 
meet the metrical demands. But this difficulty was 
easily overcome. We inserted an additional syl- 
lable, or clipped a syllable, as the emerg^ency mig-ht 
require. The teacher, also, had very frequent use 
for his implement of punishment. If sparing- the 
rod is the only way of spoiling- children, we were 
not spoiled. 

After an interval of some forty years, I revisited 
the scenes of this early experience, and saw the 
schools that had taken the place of these earl}- ones. 
There had been a revolution. Blackboards were in 
use. It was clear that the children understood the 
import of the lang-uage which they spoke. I took 
the liberty to question the boys as to the meaning- 
of certain Eng-lish sentences. Their answers were 
clear and accurate. The^' could readily translate 
the meaning- into their mother tong-ue. I also met 
m}^ old school-master, then enfeebled by the weig-ht 
of years. I had a kindly memory of him, for, al- 
thoug-li I had not escaped the flag-ellations which 
were considered so important a part of our educa- 



Address of Dk. Edwards. 11 

tion, I remembered that in m^- case the}' had com- 
monly been laid on with a li^ht and kindly- hand. 
The effect of kindness was not lost, even amid the 
gfrotesque methods of that earl\' time. 

My next experience with schools was in the state 
of Ohio, on the Western Reserve, among- the people 
who had broug-ht with them to their new abodes, 
the institutions and customs of the state of Connec- 
ticut. The usag-e in respect to the paying- of tuition 
fees among- the people did not appear to be the 
same in all schools. In some of them such fees 
were collected, and in others the)' were not. I con- 
tent m^'self with a partial description of one school 
of which I was a pupil. The teacher was a farmer, 
who cultivated his acres in the summer, and wielded 
the rod in the winter. The house was built of log's. 
The chinking- and daubing- had not been thoroug-hly 
done. The cold air in winter had a reasonably free 
access into the room. Holes had been bored into 
the log-s at an ang-le of about 60 deg-rees with the 
vertical wall, and small branches of trees had been 
driven into them. Kach of these had been so cut 
that a small stem was left near the outer end of it, 
which served to keep in place the boards that took 
the place of desks. The seats were made of slabs 
throug-h which holes had been bored for supports. 
The sticks which were used for this latter purpose 



12 "OuK Pii.GKiM Fathers." 

often came throug-h the slabs in such a way as to 
interfere with the comfort of sitting-. When a pupil 
was writing-, he sat with his face towards the wall. 
This involved a lifting- of the feet over the puncheon 
bench. But when the writing- was done, and he 
was called upon to recite, it was necessary to lift 
the feet once more over the slab seats and lay them 
down on the front side. This adjustment was for 
the older pupils, who were learning- to write. The 
smaller ones sat in long- seats near the middle of 
the floor, at a lower level than the others. The 
effect of the more or less open cracks between the 
log-s was somewhat neutralized by an immense tire- 
place at the end of the room, where a vast amount 
of wood was consumed. Of, course, that part of 
the room in the immediate vicinity of the fire, ex- 
perienced an intense deg-ree of heat, while the re- 
moter part mig-ht be uncomfortably cold. I remem- 
ber that one day, a lig-ht haired little boy, of 8 or 9 
years, named Jacob Keg-ley, who sat at the torrid 
end of the bench, announced to the teacher in re- 
spectful tones, that he was "g-etting- too hot." The 
answer was, "Jacob, when you get too hot, let me 
know." 

I remember that in this school a very larg-e part 
of the work was done by each pupil by himself. 
There were classes in reading-, and also in spelling-. 



Address of Dr. Edwards. 13 

but I do not recall any other grouping- of individuals 
into a class. I think the Three R's included all 
that was taug-ht us. Neither Knglish g-rammar nor 
g-eog-raphy was taught. But I remember that a cer- 
tain young" man, older than the majority of us, was 
called up every day for a reading- exercise by him- 
self. In some way he had secured a book which 
must have had something- of the character of a work 
on g-eog-raphy. And I can distinctly recall some of 
the young- man's pronunciations. One day he was 
reading- an account of the city of Philadelphia. 
Among- other thing-s, some of the public institutions 
of the city were named. In his loud and monoto- 
nous tones, he proceeded to tell us that that city 
contained a certain number of "hostabels," by 
which he meant hospitals. I think there was no 
correction of his peculiar rendering- of that word. 

But it must not be inferred that nothing- was 
learned in these schools. Practical knowledg-e of 
arithmetic was g-ained. A sufficient familiarity 
with Kng-lish words was secured to enable the pu- 
pils to read newspapers, and to serve as a basis for 
further and more accurate acquisitions. I would 
not imply that newspapers, at that time, and in that 
community, were very common. The fact was 
quite otherwise. Still it was true that occasionally 
one mig-ht be seen. And when dictionaries came to 



14 "Our Pilgrim Fatheks." 

be used, man}- of the young- people taug-ht in these 
schools, beg-an to acquire more accurate forms of 
pronunciation. 

The schools to which I have been referring- were 
the country schools. In the larger towns more 
prog-ress had been made. In the town of Ravenna, 
the county seat of Portag-e County, the public school 
was quite in advance of this rural establishment to 
which I have referred. Eng-lish Grammar was 
taug-ht. Also Geog-raphy. Eng-lish Composition 
was one of the reg-ular exercises. A reasonably 
correct pronunciation of Eng-lish words was insisted 
upon. The dictionary became a necessity. The 
teacher of this school eng-ag-ed in his work with 
srreat enthusiasm. He was a somewhat erratic 
man, but I am very sure that his personal influence 
over the boys and g-irls under his charg-e was very 
helpful to them. I believe that he possessed the 
spirit of the true teacher. 

In the rural schools the qualifications of the 
teacher were not very rigorously considered. The 
examination appears to have been conducted by the 
authority of the county. I have in my possession 
a certificate which was g-ranted me on the lOtli day 
of November, 1843. The school which I was to 
teach was in the countrj-. But the Examining- 
Board had their headquarters at the count}' seat. 



Address ok Dr. Edwards. 15 

In this paper it is declared that I was qualified to 
teach reading-, writing- and arithmetic, and also 
English g-rammar and g•eog-raph3^ The sig-ner of 
the paper was, at that time, a man of prominence, 
and afterwards became Chief Justice of the state of 
Ohio. He sig-ns the certificate as the Clerk of the 
Board of Examiners. 

Let us pause for a moment and take note of three 
thing-s in respect to these early schools. First, let 
us consider their physical surrounding-s. These we 
should pronounce unfit, ill adapted to the purpose 
for which schools are established. But we must re-^ 
member that these physical surrounding-s were in- 
cident to the existing- conditions. It mig-ht be said 
that they were incident to a certain inferior state of 
civilization. But this statement would impl}- a 
falsehood. These dwellers among- the forests of 
the Western Reserve were not barbarians. They 
were men and women whose ideals of life were 
worthy- of imitation. Nor were they lacking in 
knowledg-e. In certain lines, at least, they were 
sturdy thinkers. Their undeveloped physical sur- 
rounding-s were merely an incident in their career. 
And they were not long- in so changing- these sur- 
rounding-s as to make them fit appendag-es to the 
hig-hest culture. In considering- the important ques- 
tions involved, therefore, it seems to me that we 



16 "Our Pilgrim Fatheks." 

may say that the physical surrounding's were of lit- 
tle sig-nificance. Indeed, in some respects they were 
a help rather than a hindrance to the development 
of what is noblest in man and woman. The noblest 
and most cultured men on earth may dwell for a 
nig-ht amid the roughness and wildness of the most 
undeveloped wilderness. The exposure only makes 
them stronger for future achievement. 

The next point relates to the educational methods. 
These, it must be confessed, were in some respects 
inferior. They had not been carefully thought out. 
There was no well developed system, either of ped- 
agog"y or of school administration. In that partic- 
ular, therefore, we may justly claim that there has 
been progress. The work of education has been 
systematized. The laws of mental and moral growth 
are more clearly and systematically stated. But I 
doubt whether they are more clearly apprehended 
than they were by some of the old fashioned school 
masters. 

The third point to which I wish to call attention 
is, the personality of the teacher. And in this re- 
spect many of the old schools were quite equal to 
anything we have to-day. I say many of them, for 
not every school-master of the old regime was worthy 
of his vocation. But it seems to me that in the sturdy 
love of the truth; in the exercise of a gentle sympathy 



Address of Dk. Edwards. 17 

for the young- in their labors and trials; in a clear 
apprehension of the needs of childhood, and of the 
best way of supplying- these needs; in the ability to 
discern the right thing- to be done in an emerg-enc}" 
the best teachers of sixty years ag-o could have held 
their own with those of to-day. I do not forg-et 
that distance may lend enchantment to the view, 
but as I recall some of the men and women who 
were eng-ag-ed in educational work at that time, I 
am profoundly impressed with their hig-h moral and 
intellectual worth. And this fact was the salvation 
of those early schools. It was this that g-ave inspir- 
ation to so many of the young- men and young- 
women who since that da}' have become eminent in 
all the higher departments of life. In truth ma}' I 
not say that this is the mightiest element in educa- 
tion? May I not say that under all circumstances 
the rig-ht kind of a man is worth more than the sys- 
tem, however well developed this latter may be. 

It was the custom of the teacher in those ancient 
schools to devote a certain portion of every session 
to private interviews with the pupils concerning- 
their difficulties in arithmetic and other studies. In 
these interviews a free conversation was carried on, 
the teacher by questions ascertaining- wherein the 
pupil found himself unequal to the work. I think 
the usual topic discussed was arithmetic. Methods 



18 "OuK Pilgrim Fathers." 

of solving- the difficult problems were sug-g-ested. 
The application of the rules laid down in the book 
was pointed out. Very often encourag-ing- words 
were spoken to such pupils as needed them. This 
was certainly a redeeming- trait in the old system. 
And may it not be true that if we could, in our own 
times, modify our rig-orous classification of pupils so 
as to restore somethings of this old time method, we 
should make an improvement in existing- conditions? 
Is there not in our time some dang-er that the indi- 
vidual shall be submerg-ed in the system? Does not 
the hig-hest ideal of education involve something- of 
the old-time contact of mind with mind? 

It was my g-ood fortune to be connected with the 
early normal school movements in the State of Mas- 
sachusetts. When that connection beg-an, the first 
school, that at Lexing-ton, had been in operation 
four or five years, but it was a time of severe trial 
for the normal schools. A g-reat majority of the 
educated classes of that State were opposed to them. 
The colleg-e g-raduates, as a whole, were thoroug-hly 
committed to the principle that if the teacher un- 
derstood the subject which he was to teach, he was 
qualified for the work. "If you know Latin, 3'ou 
can teach Latin," was a maxim which I have heard 
repeated many times. This condition of thing-s 
necessitated g-reat earnestness and g-reat persistency 



Address of Dk. Edwards. 19 

in those who were conducting^ these Normal schools. 
The memory of those days are very inspiring-. It 
seemed as if the very situation had the effect of up- 
lifting- and ennobling- the men and women who 
taug-ht in the teachers' schools. When we are sail- 
ing with the current we do not feel called upon to 
put forth our mig-htiest efforts at the oars. If we 
know that we are carried forward by the surround- 
ing- forces, we hold our powers in suspense. Resis- 
tance, on the contrary, awakens our dormant ener- 
gies. The consequence is that an honorable list 
mig-ht be made of men and women, who were de- 
veloped into heroes by the demands made upon them, 
as pioneers in the normal school work in Massachu- 
setts. Among them a few stand preeminent. Hor- 
ace Mann, Cyrus Peirce, Nicholas Tilling-hast, de- 
serve to have their memories preserved, both on 
account of their worth as men, and of the valuable 
service which the}- rendered to the cause of educa- 
tion. 

It would be very pleasant as well as instructive to 
consider some of the facts connected with the prog-- 
ress of education in Illinois from the establishment 
of the free school law in 1854 to the founding- of the 
State University in 1867. But the time forbids. I 
may however say that there were men connected 
with that whole movement who deserve to have 



20 "Our Pilgrim Fathers." 

their names held in honorable remembrance. When 
these men beg^an their labors, the state of Illinois 
was not in the front rank, educationally^ among- the 
states of the Union. To-day she is abreast of the 
foremost. This g-reat advance was not accom- 
plished without labor, and the labor was not per- 
formed without a hig-h degree of faith and hope and 
courag-e. 

To elevate the ideals of a whole community 
in respect to a question so important as this, to 
induce the people to devote their time and labor and 
money to the carr3Mng- forward of the enterprise, 
involves the practice of all the heroic virtues. It 
may be invidious to designate a sing-le man as hav- 
ing- been preeminently a leader in so mag^nificent a 
movement, but I think our sense of justice will not 
be shocked if I take the liberty of naming- in this 
connection Prof. Jonathan B. Turner of Jackson- 
ville. He was a steadfast advocate of a State Uni- 
versity and of an institution for the training- of 
teachers for the public schools. He and the noble 
men and women who wroug-ht with him, were not 
impelled by selfish motives in what they did. They 
soug-ht to set in motion the forces that would be 
most potent in developing- the intellig-ence and vir- 
tue of the mass of the people. And this is a kind 
of labor that not only raises the g-rade of ordinar}- 



Address of Dk. Edwards. 21 

hurnanit}^ but in a special manner ennobles those 
who carry it forward. 

I have said that these g-reat intellectual and moral 
chang-es are not easy of attainment. If this propo- 
sition is doubted, the evidence of its truth can be 
abundantly- furnished in the personal testimony of 
the men and women who lived among- the scenes to 
which we refer. Go back to the year 1862, a period 
which had witnessed already much prog-ress, and 
what do we find as to the condition of the public 
sentiment ? All over the state of Illinois there was 
a powerful feeling- of hostility to the normal school 
already established, and to the proposed State Uni- 
versity. In the year just named g-reat numbers of 
the educational men of the state had enlisted as 
soldiers. Their hig-her intellig-ence had taug-ht 
them the value of the Union whose life was threat- 
ened. In some cases it seemed as if their absence 
from their homes had developed the feeling- in some 
minds that che cause of education could be more 
effectually resisted, A wave of opposition to edu- 
cational prog-ress seemed in dang-er of flooding- the 
state. There was prophecy of disaster to the new 
movements. I remember that while these clouds 
were floating- in the air, a g-entleman of some prom- 
inence assured me in private conversation that the 
people of McLean County would soon have the nor- 



22 "Our Pilgrim Fathers." 

mal school building- for a corn crib. But the effect 
of these trying- experiences -was to stimulate the 
friends of education at home to g-reater activity, and 
the final result was that for the next twenty years 
the prog-ress made in education in the State of Illi- 
nois exceeded the hopes of the majority of educa- 
tional workers. 

A paper is to be read this evening- by our friend, 
Dr. Willard, upon the life and services of Newton 
Bateman. I have no doubt that the subject will be 
justly and adequately presented. But I have a 
strong- desire in these closing- sentences of my paper 
to refer to that disting-uished man. I shall not take 
time to set forth his character, his attainments, or 
his influence upon the educational life of the State 
of Illinois. But I wish simply to express the sense 
of my profound personal obligation to him. In the 
trying- days to which I have already referred, when 
g-rave doubts were entertained as to the success of 
the normal school enterprise in this state, and when 
men and women connected with that institution 
were putting- their whole lives into the work before 
them, Newton Bateman was always their staunch 
friend. His reports contain words of encourag-e- 
ment and inspiration. Month by month and year 
by year g-ave us the help of his public approval and 
personal support. How much his words may have 



Address of Dk. Edwards. 23 

influenced the final result, no one can tell. But 
thej were certainly a potent factor. In the name 
of the Normal University, and of the thousands who 
hav^e ^one forth from it, streng-thened and uplifted 
by his words and his example, I beg" leave to lay 
this simple leaflet upon his honored tomb. 



That soul is blest, in dark or sunny hours, 
That toils, and trusts and sinjjrs. 

—HevM'tt. 



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Edwin C. Hewett, A. M., LL. D. 



THK PRESIDENT'S INTRODUCTION OF 
DR. HEWETT. 

It is nearly forty years ago when the boys and 
g-irls in the dear old Normal School at Blooming-ton 
g-athered one Monday morning- in the Assembly 
room and beg-an to discuss "the new teacher." 
"Where is he?" ran from lip to lip. "Don't you 
see up there on the platform?" "What ! that little 
bit of a fellow?" And witty but mischievous Matt 
Marble said to the g-irls, "if he does not behave 
himself I will put him in Enoch's overcoat pocket 
and have him carried off." Ladies and g-entlemen, 
permit me to introduce the "new teacher," Dr. 
Edwin C. Hewett. 



ADDRESS OF DR. HEWETT. 

"m JWY LIFE beg-an among- the hills of one of 
I y I the roug-hest and poorest parts of Worcester 
/ county, Massachusetts; and in that vicinit}^ 

all my boyhood was spent. The common, district 
schools afforded the only opportunities for education 
that I enjoyed until I was about twenty years old. 
And the memories of those old schools are among- 
the most vivid and the most pleasant recollections 
of my 3^outh. I suppose the schools which I attend- 
ed were pretty fair representatives of the common, 
district schools of New Eng-land sixty years ag-o. I 
presume the common schools in the larg-e towns and 
cities may have been somewhat better than they 
were; but I never knew much about them from 
personal observation. 

The public schools were wholly under the man- 
ag-ement of the several towns. I am not aware that 
there was anything- whatever like an educational 
department in the State Government; I am sure 
that there was no representation of educational 
affairs in the g-overnment of the county, nor is 
there to this day. In New Eng-land, the counties 
have always played a subordinate part in the ma- 
chinery of g-overnment. The towns, or townships 

27 



28 -'Our Pii^gkim Fathers." 

as perhaps we should be inclined to say, have been 
of first importance from the earliest times. 

Each year, at the reg-ular town-meeting- in March, 
the citizens determined by vote how much money 
the town should raise by tax for the support of 
schools during" the year. At the same time, they 
also chose a town school-committee, usually three 
in number, who licensed the teachers, and who had 
the g-eneral supervision of the schools. Almost 
without exception, one or more of the ministers of 
the town were chosen on that committee. Each of 
the several districts chose a man, called a pruden- 
tial committee, whose business it was to hire the 
teacher, provide fuel and other supplies, attend to 
the repairs of the school house, etc. 

Usually, only two terms of the school were held 
in the year — a summer term taug-ht by a woman, 
beg-inning" about May, and a winter term, beg-inning" 
almost invariably on the "Monday after Thanks- 
g-iving-." About eleven or twelve weeks was the 
usual leng-th of a term, although I remember one 
term that was only four weeks long-. The summer 
term was commonly attended only bj- the small 
children and a few of the larg-er girls. But, usually 
nearly all the young- people of the district, up to the 
ag-e of eig-hteen or more, attended the winter term. 
The teachers in the winter, with very few excep- 



Address of Dr. Hewett. 29 

tions, were men; and thirty dollars a month and 
board was accounted a g^ood salary. The women 
who taug-ht in the summer often received no more 
than a dollar and a half a week, or even less. 
Sometimes the teachers "boarded around;" but, in 
my childhood, that custom was nearly g-one out of 
fashion. 

The country school houses were commonly small 
structures of wood or brick, at the cross-roads, un- 
shaded and bleak; they were sometimes painted red. 
A large box stove in the center of the room roasted 
the pupils on one side, while drafts of wintry air 
from windows and chinks chilled them on the other. 
The fires were built each morning- by the boys, 
taking- "turns." Well do I remember my experi- 
ence as a boy of ten years, in g-oing- from my home, 
a mile throug-h the snow, to build the fire in time 
to have the school house warmed at nine o'clock. 
It was a point of honor to accomplish this, for pub- 
lic sentiment in the school was very severe on the 
lazy fellow who failed to perform this duty thor- 
oug-hly when his "turn" came. Of apparatus, 
blackboards, wall maps, charts, dictionaries, refer- 
ence books, etc., there was almost none; some 
school rooms had a small board about two feet 
square, painted black, on which work was done with 
lumps of common chalk. 



30 - " OuK Pilgrim Fatheks." 

Text-books were few and rude and, althoug-h 
some particular kind was desig-nated for use, there 
was a "plentiful lack" of uniformity. The g-enial 
text-book ag-ent had not yet "put in an appearance." 
Among- the text-books that I remember using, were 
Webster's Speller, Cummings's Speller, The Ameri- 
can First-class Book, The National Reader, Por- 
ter's Rhetorical Reader, The Intelligent Reader, 
Smith's Arithmetic, Emerson's Arithmetics, "Peter 
Parley's" Geography, Olney's Geography and Atlas, 
Smith's Grammar, etc. 

Nearly all the text-books were constructed on the 
plan of question and answer; and in geog-raphy, g-ram- 
mar and history, little was done in recitation, but 
for the teacher to ask the printed question and the 
pupil to reply in the exact words of the text. As 
these printed answers were often long-er than we 
liked to commit to memory, only a part, which 
would make a fragmentary but intelligible answer 
to the teacher's question, was commonly learned. 
We often set off, by penciled brackets, the words 
that would serve this purpose; and a text-book that 
had been much used was sure to be "edited" in this 
way. 

What I have just said will indicate what was the 
g-eneral "method of teaching." The youngest pu- 
pils were called up to the teacher twice a day or 



Address of Dr. Hewett. 31 

oftener, to "say their letters." This the}' did in 
rotation, as the teacher pointed with his pen knife 
to the several letters in order, in the speller. After 
the child could say his letters, he was put into the 
a, b, ab's, then into the reading- of short sentences 
in the spelling- book. The spelling classes usually 
came out on to the floor, "toed the mark," and 
"spelled for the head." I never knew a written ex- 
ercise in spelling. In geography, history and 
grammar, the pupils commonly recited by classes, 
in the way I have already indicated. In grammar, 
much of the time was given to parsing; for this 
purpose, the "Essay on Man," or "Paradise Lost," 
often furnished the text. In arithmetic, many of 
the pupils, especially the older ones, worked inde- 
pendently; the teacher would g-o to the pupil's seat 
occasionall}', to see how he g^ot on, to ask a question 
or two, or to assist in doing- a "hard sum." In 
writing, also, each pupil worked by himself. His 
copy-book was made of a few sheets of paper, 
bought at the "store" and sewed tog-ether at home; 
his copies were set by the teacher; he furnished his 
own ink, often home-made; and his pen was a quill 
sharpened by the teacher. He wrote whenever he 
chose, and for as long a time as he pleased. 

The style of government in these schools depend- 
ed entirely upon the intelligence, judicial acumen 



32 "Our Pilgrim Fathers." 

and muscular streng-th of the individual teacher. 
Usually, however, the rod or ferule pla3'ed a larg-e 
part; it was a very common thing- to see the teacher 
marching- about the room with one or the other of 
these persuaders under his arm; and it was not 
there merely for an ornament, but was often used 
to g-ive promiscuous blows upon supposed offenders. 
Severe flog-g-ings, always in the presence of the 
school, were common. Sometimes, on such occa- 
sions, if the pupil was larg-e or plucky, resistance 
was shown, and a very "pretty fig-ht" was the re- 
sult. If the pupil did not see fit to fig-ht, he could 
show his pluck in another way, — that is, by receiv- 
ing- his punishment with the stoicism of a wild In- 
dian. Brutal punishments, like pulling- the hair, 
slapping the face, holding- out a book at arm's 
leng-th, "holding- a nail in the floor," etc., were not 
uncommon. 

The winter term of the district school was a g^reat 
affair in the district. As I have said, most of the 
larg-e boys and g-irls — young- men and women — at- 
tended; often such a school, under a sing-le master, 
would number from sixty to one hundred pupils, — 
ag-es rang-ing- from four to twenty-one, and studies 
from a, b, c, to Latin and g-eometry. The daily ses- 
sion, almost always, opened with a reading- in 
course from the New Testament; each pupil from 



Address of Dk. Hewktt. 33 

the hig-her classes stood up at his seat in turn, and 
read two verses; meanwhile, the teacher often 
mended pens, or mended the lire. When the read- 
ing- was done, the teacher followed it with an ex- 
tempore prayer, if he chose to do so; there were no 
"reg-ulations of the Board," as to relig-ious exer- 
cises, — nor, g"enerally, as to anything- else. The 
sing-ing- of a song- or hjmn, at the opening- exer- 
cises — or at any other time — was a very rare 
occurrence. 

During- the winter, skating- and coasting- frolics 
b}- da}', and spelling- and writing- schools b}' nig-lit, 
were very frequent. Around such affairs, the social 
life of the neig-hborhood larg-ely centered; and here 
the preliminaries of many a matrimonial eng-ag-e- 
ment were adjusted. At the close of the term, the 
committee, the minister, and the leading- citizens 
usually g-athered at the school house; the pupils 
"spoke pieces" and, perhaps, read compositions; and 
the dig-nitaries spoke pieces, too, praising- the pu- 
pils, extolling^ their wonderful privileg-es, and re- 
minding- them that every one stood a chance of 
becoming- President. 

I have, perhaps, dwelt too long- on the old New 
Eng-land, district school; but, with all its crudeness, 
hardships and meag-er advantag-es, I remember it 
loving-l}', — I can now see, in mj' mind's eye, how the 



34 "Our Pii.grim Fathers." 

white road wound its half-mile up the hill when I 
trudg-ed over it, not five years old, one summer 
morning-, to enter such a school for the first time. 
I remember how the room looked to me, I remember 
many of the pupils seated on the low seats; I 
remember the pink apron of the teacher; and the 
scenes of the old district school fill a large place in 
my memory, from that time till at sixteen I ceased 
to be a pupil in such a school. And the memories 
of pupil days are supplemented by later memories 
of two winters when I acted the part of master, 

I must not omit saying- a few words about the 
numerous "Select Schools" and Academies of those 
days. These were all in the hands of independent 
manag-ers; the Select Schools were usually opened 
and conducted by any who chose, and who could se- 
cure patronag-e. In many of these institutions, 
most excellent work was done, not on account of 
the system, — for system, there was none,^ — but be- 
cause of the ability, insig-ht, culture, and devotion 
of those who taug-ht. But it cost money to at- 
tend these schools, and money was not plenty with 
the farmer folk of New Eng-land, in those days. 
Here and there a boy or g-irl, by the help of an 
insistent will, strong- hands and self-sacrificing- 
parents, went to the Academy for a longer or 
shorter time. But for the majority, the common 



Address of Dk. Hewett. 35 

school, or People's "Colleg-e," as I have described it, 
was all. 

In the lig-ht of modern public education, you say, 
How crude! How meag-er! How inadequate! True, 
my dear friend. But, out of just such schools came 
a large proportion of the men and women who have 
made this country what it is, at the close of this 
wonderful "nineteenth century." Some of those 
old-time teachers were notoriously unfit for their 
places, — could not the same be said of some at the 
present time? None of them had received special 
training- for teaching, none had any theoretical 
knowledge of pedagogy, correlation or appercep- 
tion. But they had common sense, they knew hu- 
man nature, they had interest in their work, and 
they sympathized with their pupils. Quite frequent- 
ly the teacher was a bright, ambitious young fel- 
low from college, like the one so graphically de- 
scribed by Whittier, in "Snow Bound." 

Of the pupils, too, many were in grim earnest in 
their school work; they had learned the lesson of 
toil, and they did not shrink from it on the farm or 
in the school; they appreciated their privileges and 
fully realized that their time for school was short; 
they had learned the lesson of sturdy self-reliance, 
and did not expect to be carried over the hard 
places, nor to take their educational pabulum in 



36 "Our Pilgrim Fathers." 

the form of spoon victuals or "cut feed." Some- 
thing- besides the best appliances, a perfect system, 
a theoretically philosophic method, was necessar}' 
to secure success thcu^ and now. 

Just about sixty years ago, a wonderful chang-e 
in school matters beg^an. Massachusetts estab- 
lished a State Board of Education, with Horace 
Mann at its head; Normal Schools, Teachers' Insti- 
tutes and Teachers' Associations quickly followed. 
Text-books beg-an to improve wonderfully, both in 
matter and make-up; improved apparatus, reference 
books and libraries beg-an to make their way into 
the schools; steps beg-an to be taken in the produc- 
tion of modern children's literature as well as pro- 
fessional literature for teachers; public hig-h schools 
began to multiply; it was the dawn of the present 
public school system. 

I have no time to trace these movements, to com- 
mend or to criticize them. It must suffice to say 
that the advancement has been amazing"; but the 
g"oal is not reached, nor are all problems solved, 
nor all dangers passed. But it is fair to say that 
there are certain great fundamental facts of human 
nature and of child nature, which are unchang-e- 
able and cannot be ig-nored with safet}" some of 
these facts have been discovered, but I think I need 
not name them in this presence. 



Address of Dk. Hewett. 37 

That these truths or facts were distinctly felt — 
thoug-h not formulated — by the g-ood teachers of the 
old time, accounts for what was g-ood in their work, 
and it was much. That these truths cannot be 
safely ig-nored in the future, however elaborate and 
costly our machinery, or ing-enious and perfect our 
methods, we shall do well to remember. 



The same being's do not remain long on earth. But others coming- 
after take up their work and go beyond them. In this way new fields of 
vision and beauty are ever opening before us, and new ideas are born 
into life. — Eherhart. 




John F. Eberhart. 



THE PRESIDENT'S INTRODUCTION OF 
JOHN F. EBERHART. 

According- to the leg-ends of the family, it was at 
four o'clock on Sunday- morning-, June 15, 1834, in 
the city of New York, that the g-entle zephyrs were 
first disturbed b}' my melodious voice. My father 
broug-ht his famil}- to Hudson, McLean County, 
Illinois, in the spring- of 1838. It took him three 
weeks to accomplish the journey which now can be 
made in thirty hours. We commenced the life of 
pioneer farmers immediately. There were no 
schools in our neig-hborhood until about 1845 or 
1846. 

In December, 1856, I was teaching- my second 
school in Kappa, Woodford County, and John W. 
Cook was one of my pupils. I read reg-ularly and 
with much interest the "Illinois Teacher," edited 
by Charles E. Hovey, superintendent of the Peoria 
schools. The establishment of a State Normal 
School was the great subject before the educational 
men of the state. The State Association was to 
hold its fourth meeting- in Chicag-o during- the holi- 
days and the "Teacher" urg-ed that every school- 
master in the state should be present and help to 
accomplish the work in hand. I determined to g-o 
40 



Intkoduction ok John F. Ebekhakt. 41 

and it is safe to say to-nig-ht that the enthusiasm 
received at ni}- first teachers' meeting- has never 
been lost. Never having- been fifty miles from 
home before the sights of "the g-reat city" impressed 
me much. We arrived at the Chicag-o and Alton 
depot about midnig-ht and as I looked down one of 
the streets my first thoug-ht was that for some rea- 
son, unknown to me, little bonfires had been built, 
on either side along- its whole leng-th! 

One evening-, before the usual lecture, I wandered 
into a picture store and was attracted by the ap- 
pearance of a tall, scholarly looking^ g-entleman who 
was evidently admiring the treasures spread upon 
the walls. I hardly know how it came about, but I 
soon found myself engag-ed in a pleasant conversa- 
tion with the g-enial man. And ladies and gentle- 
men, the friendship thus happily begun has con- 
tinued during all the past forty-one years, and I 
take great pleasure to-night in introducing to you 
John F. Eberhart, who was the County School 
Commissioner of Cook County when I met him in 
the little picture store. 



ADDRESS OP^ JOHN F. EBERHART. 

fORTY-THREE years ag-o I first saw a Western 
State. Chicag-o then had 42 teachers; now it 
has about 5,000. Then it took about $2,500 to 
pay them for a month's services; now it takes nearly- 
$500,000. 

The first educational meeting- I attended in this 
state was at Blooming-ton, in July, 1855. It was a 
meeting- of the "State Board of Education" ap- 
pointed by the State Teachers' Institute held at 
Peoria the preceding- winter. This board consisted 
of nine members and seemed to have plenary powers 
in matters educational in the state, and arrang-ed 
for the annual meeting- of the State Teachers' In- 
stitute in this city in 1855, which meeting- 42 
years ag-o I also attended, as well as ever}^ annual 
meeting- thereafter for seventeen consecutive years. 
All of these sessions were full of interest and inci- 
dents, many of which history does not record. At 
almost every session there was some g-reat forward 
movement projected by some of the early leaders. 
In fact, I think that this Association, with its fore- 
runners of kindred associations, can rig-htly claim 
fatherhood to nearly all the improvements in our 
present excellent system of education in the state; 
— such as, amendments to the school law, the estab- 
42 



Address of John F. Ebekhakt. 43 

lishment of state, county and local supervision, and 
the creation of schools for normal instruction. 

There was a g^ood deal of feeling- on the part of 
some of the leading- teachers in the meeting- of 1855 
ag-ainst "outsiders" as they were called. The}- pro- 
posed to amend the constitution so as to exclude 
from membership all except practical school room 
teachers, but finally compromised by admitting- also 
all school officers in the State. I think this is still 
the constitution of the Association. The teachers 
felt that theirs was a specific profession, having- in 
charg-e a special work, and they did not want to be 
interfered with by ministers, politicians and g-en- 
eral reformers who were usually g-ood talkers and 
manipulators. And they especially feared the in- 
fluence of such men as W. F. M. Arney, Bronson 
Murray, Prof. J. B. Turner and others who had 
really hitherto been the leaders in educational 
affairs of the State. These were broad-minded men 
and powerful in a deliberative body and had held a 
number of educational conventions in the interest 
of general education in the State, and had projected 
a plan for a g-rand industrial university, with a 
Normal School as a prominent department. Here 
was the issue. The teachers wanted an inde- 
pendent Normal School and not a department in a 
University. 



44 "OuK P11X.KIM Fathers." 

If mv memory is correct we had 128 teachers at 
our first meeting- here in this city in 1855. But the 
Association gradually g^rew in numbers as it did in 
importance and power, until in Galesburg- in 1867, 
it numbered about 600, and now numbers its 
thousands. 

In some respects in the early days of this Associ- 
ation we had the advantag-e over you of the present 
day. There were not as many of us then so that 
we had a better chance to become acquainted with 
each other and form many pleasant personal friend- 
ships and associations. Some of these friendships 
in a number of cases also matured into something- 
better and more lasting- and made benedicts out of 
bachelors and charming- housewives out of school- 
ma'ams. This may have impoverished the ranks of 
the teachers, but surely enriched the schools! 

We were nearly all poor in those days and had 
small salaries; so the railroads gave us half rates 
and the good people where we met entertained us 
in generous style — ending usually with a royal ban- 
quet. We also had book agents then, all jolly good 
fellows, and they were a strong feature of every 
meeting and generous to the extreme. It will take 
the men of that day a long time to forget "Ed. Os- 
band," "Jim Hawley," "M. Tabor," "George W. 
Batchelder" and others. And we not only had 



Address of John F. Eberhakt. 45 

banquets and book ag-ents but we sometimes had 
fun g'oing' and returning-. Once on our way down 
here we missed connections at Decatur and had to 
stay there in the one depot hotel of the place all 
nig-ht. And as there were not beds enoug-h to g-o 
round, some of the teachers — havdng- no beds — de- 
cided to divide the time with the teachers having- 
beds. Just how or when they chang^ed I have never 
learned! But it was a very noisy and jolly opera- 
tion and seemed to last all nig-ht. The landlord 
was much perplexed next morning- in making- out 
his bills, but finally decided he oug-ht to have dou- 
ble rates for the beds occupied by two sets! It is 
proper to say that our robust friend, E. A. Gastman, 
who is always equal to every occasion, was not in 
Decatur at that time, or he would no doubt have 
been able to solve this nois}^ problem of space and 
time /// no fijjic. On another occasion it took us 
nearly a whole week to g-et back to Chicag-o, and we 
were not drunk either — thoug-li perhaps not ronark- 
ahly sober all the way. When we left Spring-field 
the snow was two feet deep and the thermometer 25 
degrees below zero. Some of us had had experience 
in winter travel in the west and had laid in a barrel 
of crackers, a g-ood stock of oysters and other edi- 
bles; and thus — with the aid of wooden fences — our 
valuable lives were preserved until at the end of 



46 " OuK Pii.GKiM Fathers." 

three days we reached Pontiac, where the g^ood peo- 
ple took us in and housed, warmed and fed us; and 
where for their special benefit we held an adjourned 
session of the Association in the court house. It is 
well that no record was ever kept of this meet- 
ing". Your present speaker was chairman — and 
althoug"h somewhat experienced in parliamentary 
tactics — ^could not maintain decorum, confine the 
speakers to their topics, or limit the time devoted 
to applause! 

I will ask 3'our pardon while I give some personal 
reminiscences and activities. 

When I first saw the State of Illinois it seemed 
like a great, grand unfenced prairie. There were 
a few railroads in the state but thej were "hard 
roads to travel." The stations were eight or ten 
miles apart, the little clusters of houses, people and 
teams at each station looked very much alike. But 
the little school house was always in the back- 
ground. The reason I came to Illinois was because 
my doctors said I could no longer live and work in 
Pennsylvania, and they kindly sent me west to die. 
But after I had breathed the air and spirit of this 
country a while, and beheld the work to be done in 
my chosen field of labor, I did not want to die. It 
seemed like an inspiration to me, and not being- 
well enough to do regular duty in the school room. 



Address of John F. Eberhart. 47 

I became a sort of missionary, an out-rider as it 
were ( thoug-h I often had to g-o a-foot ) in the great 
army of educators in the west. As soon as I was 
able I commenced adjunct work by delivering- courses 
of scientific lectures before some of the higher in- 
stitutions of learning. The first course of ten lec- 
tures was given before the Lee Center Academy 
over which Prof. Simeon W. Wright, one of the 
early leaders of this Association, presided. These 
lectures were an experiment intended to be popular 
and instructive and I was surprised at the interest 
they created — especially with the small amount of 
.apparatus I had at command. Whatever may have 
been the attendance at the first of these lectures, 
the last was always greater than the house could 
accommodate. But my health was not equal to the 
task. 

I then did some editorial work on country' and 
city papers, and afterwards edited and published the 
"Northwestern Home and School Journal." You 
see that the title of my paper was larg-e enough to 
fully cover the case and take in the whole county. 
My aim was to make a paper that would be at once 
a newsbearer, in its line, and an educator and in- 
structor in the family and school. It was not espe- 
cially intended for teachers — except incidentally. I 
had an ideal of a possible paper in the direction of 



48 -'Our Pilgrim Fathers." 

ni}" effort; and in this I had the endorsement of such 
men as Henry Barnard — bj whom I was employed 
to hold teachers' institutes, and also afterwards 
offered work on his "Journal of Education" — of 
John G. Saxe, the poet, EHhu Burritt, the learned 
blacksmith, and Horace Mann, may I say, the g^reat- 
est of all American educators, whose friendship I 
valued g-reatly and whose very presence was an in- 
spiration. These were all contributors to my paper. 
And my friends, I still believe that such a journal, 
with a sufficient amount of brains, money and 
energ-y back of it could be made an eminent success 
in every way. Suffice it to say, that at the end 
of three years, when elected superintendent of the 
schools of Cook County, I was g'lad to donate all its 
valuable interests to the "Illinois Teacher." And 
it took several years of my salary to square accounts 
with the world. 

For sixteen years I attended every session of the 
legislature — and also the Constitutional Convention 
- — in the interest of educational leg^islation, usually 
as a member of a committee of the State Teachers' 
Association or other educational body, and some- 
times alone. First it was for the establishment of 
the Normal University, and then the various amend- 
ments to the school law in favor respectively of 
school libraries, g-raded schools, teachers' institutes. 



Address of John F. Eberhakt. 49 

township liig-h schools, count}- supervision and 
count}- normal schools. 

Mj first reg-ular work in the State was to aid in 
the establishment of school libraries. The books 
were selected by the State Superintendent, Mr. 
Hovey, and myself. Prof. Wrig-ht, Prof. Wilkins 
and myself were appointed to select agents to intro- 
duce them. They had not much time and took the 
southern end of the State, while I having- all my 
time, had the central and northern part of the State. 
They soon g-ot discourag-ed and abandoned the v/ork 
— while I kept on until I had visited every county 
in my part of the State, and appointed about thirty 
ag-ents who introduced 90 per cent, of the libraries. 
There was no "boodle" in these libraries, but we 
were each paid SlOO a month and expenses for the 
time employed. The libraries were intended for 
the rural districts, and as such, were g-ood in their 
time and did g-ood work. My next work was to aid 
in the establishment of g-raded schools; and for 
which purpose I visited most of the northern cities 
of the State, conferring- with teachers and boards of 
education. I also worked in institutes and had the 
honor of holding- the first institute in many of the 
northern counties of the State. In this woik I had 
many rich and interesting- experiences, some of 
which I would like to relate if I had time. I will 



50 "Our Pilgrim Fathers." 

mention two. I was invited by Rev. Mr. Cross, 
the School Commissioner of Putnam County, to hold 
an institute at Hennepin. It was to be held in the 
court chamber. When I g-ot there about 11 o'clock 
on the day it w^as to open I found only two lady 
teachers present. They reported that the Rev. Mr. 
Cross had broug-ht them in his carriage and had 
g-one off about twenty miles to marry a couple and 
would return next evening, and for me to go ahead 
with the institute! There were three schools in 
session in the place as thoug-h nothing had occurred. 
I took the ladies with me and we visited the schools. 
The teachers said the board had discussed the mat- 
ter and decided not to close the schools. I then 
visited the board, who had an idea that an institute 
was a scheme of the teachers to g^et more pay. But 
after some discussion they g^ave me an order to dis- 
miss the schools. I spent that afternoon in the 
schools and did some lively talking. I invited the 
larger children and their mothers especially to come 
and hear me talk in the evening-. A goodly number 
were out. I struck out right and left and hit as 
hard as I could and made something of a sensation. 
I again invited the larger pupils and the mothers to 
be with us the next day — and they were there. A 
few more teachers also arrived and the school com- 
missioner came in the evening. I then talked and 



ADDKES.S OF John F. Eberhakt. 51 

taug-ht every day and lectured every nig-ht to audi- 
ences that the larg-est church could hardly contain 
and closed Friday nig-ht in a triumph of enthusiasm. 
The g-ood people then passed the hat for a collec- 
tion to pay me for my efforts, and g-ot $13, and as 
that covered my expenses we were all happy! There 
was much amusing- and pleasant detail about this 
institute which it would take hours to relate. 
About twenty teachers reported before we closed, 
and I felt that a g-ood work had been done. 

I also held an institute later at Belleville. It was 
the home of Georg-e Bunsen, who was School Com- 
missioner, and who had been a pupil of the g-reat 
Pestalozzi. Bunsen was a g-rand man and had as 
profound a conception of education as any man in 
the State. There were over 100 teachers present at 
the opening- and among- them a Methodist minister 
and a Catholic priest. I feared trouble as it was in 
a time of hot discussions on the use of the Bible in 
school. But the question had to be met, and I im- 
mediately stepped up to the Catholic priest and 
said, it was our custom to open with a few verses 
from the Bible and a short prayer, and invited him 
to officiate. I had noticed both a Catholic and 
Protestant Bible on the desk. He walked rig-ht up 
to the desk, picked up the Protestant Bible, read a 
few verses and offered an appropriate prayer. The 



52 "OuK Pilgrim Fatheks." 

next morning- the Methodist minister used the 
Catholic version of the Bible; and we had a happ}' 
time all the way throug-h with lectures in the even- 
ing- by such disting-uished educators as Dr. Edwards, 
Dr. Bateman, Dr. Hoyt, of the Washing-ton Univer- 
sity, and last and least, your humble servant. And 
I want to add that two of the young- teachers who 
attended that institute afterwards became State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State — 
Hon. James P. Slade and Hon. Henry Raub. Since 
coming- here your present State Superintendent, 
Hon. S. M. Ing-lis, has also informed me that he 
was once an official member of an institute that I 
attended. Three such incidents make a strong- 
case! 

When elected Superintendent of Schools of Cook 
County in the fall of 1859, I had to abandon much 
of my out-work as I had enoug-h home work. I 
served in that capacity ten years. I could not 
describe the condition of affairs in Cook County at 
that time if I had time. The schools had never 
had any supervision; certificates were issued indis- 
crimately to anyone who could arrang-e with 
directors to teach. Directors were of every character 
and nationalit}', as the lands in many of the districts 
were occupied by tenants and squatters. I have 
known two out of three of the directors in a district 



Address of John F. Ebekhakt. 53 

to sig^n their names to a schedule by "making- their 
mark." In one district the daughter of one of the 
directors was paid $50.00 a month to teach — without 
a certificate, — the son was paid $5.00 a week as 
janitor, and the director himself was g-etting $50.00 
a month for superintending the building- of a new 
frame school house of two rooms. Whether he ever 
g-ot to be an alderman or member of the legislature 
I am not advised. But I went to work with a will 
as best I could, visiting the schools, and teachers, 
meeting the boards, and holding two institutes a 
year. But qualitied teachers could not be had; and 
I immediately commenced the agitation in the 
Board of Supervisors for a County Normal School. 
After several 3'ears of personal effort and per- 
sonal visitation with each member of the Board of 
Supervisors — 54 in number — they were finally in- 
duced to appropriate money to make a trial of a 
Count}- Normal School in 1864. This was done 
before any State act had been passed for County 
Normal Schools. But after the school was estab- 
lished, Prof. D. S. Wentworth, the first principal, 
and myself, drew the act for County Normal Schools 
in the State, and I took it to Springfield and had 
no trouble in having it passed, as it was heartily 
endorsed by the State Superintendent, that g-reat 
and good man — the Horace Mann of the West — 



54 "OuK PiLGKiM Fathers." 

Newton Bateman. Thus as I understand it. Cook 
County has the honor of establishing- the first 
County Normal School in the State, as well as in 
the United States, and also of g^raduating- last year 
the larg-est class — over 500 — ever graduated from 
any Normal School in the world. This Normal 
School is now called the Chicag^o Normal School as 
the land on which it was erected is now in the city. 
When it was built it was put eig-ht miles out from 
the center of Chicag-o, so that the city would never 
reach it. But Chicag-o has already covered it, and 
is now about eig-ht miles this side of it, and still 
coming- in this direction, and I g-ive Dr. Cook of the 
State Normal University this early notice that he 
may have his house in order when it arrives. Cook 
County also has the honor, I think, of establishing- 
the first hig-h school under the township hig-h 
school act. 

It is not possible for anyone, who has )iot lived 
throug-h the last fift}' years, and witnessed the 
mag-ic chang-es that have taken place, to have any 
true and realistic conception of the condition of 
life and effort before these chang-es. Then there 
were practically no railroads, no teleg-raphs and 
telephones, no electricity or steam power, and I 
mig-ht say practically no school books, or free 
schools in this western country. And one can 



Address of John F. Eberhart. 55 

hardly realize that these chang-es have come slowly 
and with much labor and sacrifice. To one 
looking- backwards they seem rather like the quick 
and brilliant turn of the kaleidescope. When I was 
a boy my father living- in Pennsylvania had occa- 
sion to write a letter to a man in Ouincy, Illinois, 
and it took the letter three months to g-o and three 
months for the answer to return — making- six 
months — and the postage on each letter cost a 
dollar. 

As I have studied the work of this g-rand body of 
teachers, thinkers and philosophers I am naturally 
impressed with the chang-es that have taken place 
in educational affairs, from the crude to the better, 
from the less to the greater. But in everything- 
there has been an advance. The little strawberry 
of fifty years ag-o is now as larg-e and lucious as a 
peach, and the five or ten pound watermelon weig-hs 
50 or 100 pounds, while the sing-le little house 
shrub blossom of by-g-one days is now the grand 
and gorgeous crysanthemum as large as a school 
teacher's head. Is it not meet, then, that the little 
school house should evolutionizc into the university, 
and this Association show like advancement, hav- 
ing greater parts and functions? And although 
something of a believer in Darwinian philosophy, I 
am sometimes at a loss to know which ouefht most 



56 "Our Piix»kim Fathp:ks." 

to rejoice, the man that rose from a monkey, or the 
monkey that cvolut ionized into a man! 

And, m}' friends, we are not yet at the end of our 
discoveries. Some of us may think we know all 
that is comprehended in the word cdiicalioii. But 
who is bold enoug-h to say that some better methods 
may not come to develope the boy into the man, the 
still g-reater, g-rander, physical, moral and intellect- 
ual man. Your work is not completed. Our 
lang-uag-e is not perfect — especially in the expression 
and delineation of tine feeling- and hig-h idealities. 
Our written lang-uag^e, too, is still cumbersome, 
althoug-h stenog-raphy has broug-ht us some relief, 
while our modes of transmitting- thoug-ht orally, 
ar-e slow and heavy. You can all think much 
faster than I can talk. And while it is true that 
thought with gilded feet has learned to trip the 
live wire around the world at the rate of 10,000 
miles a minute, and the ear can catch the tick of a 
watch 1,000 miles away, and the eye by means of 
the X-rays looks into the inner recesses of the 
human body, — is it not reasonable to believe that 
man has not yet reached the full limit of his power? 
Our sense perceptions may some day be projected 
yet farther out into the mysteries of nature and 
bring to our quickened understanding still more 
wonderful knowledge than we have yet acquired. 



Addkess of John F. Ebekhart. 57 

And who can say that all these improvements and 
discoveries may not yet be superceded by something- 
better, and even the telescope which has done so 
much for science, be laid aside as a thing- of the 
past, while our brig-hter visions in some new way 
may reach the stars, and the "man in the moon" 
become a reality! 

My friends, the world /s inoviiig and the teacher 
to do honor to himself and his profession must not 
rest on his oars, but move on, have his colors fl^'ing-, 
and keep tread to the g-iant march of the world. And 
while I honor the names and lives of our g-reat local 
leaders, such as Bateman, Hovey, Edwards, and 
many others, who had the courag-e in early days, 
like Nansen's "Fram," to break their way throug-h 
the ice-crust of prejudice in search of g-reener fields; 
there is also a long- list of names in this State of 
the quiet, obscure and now almost forg-otten work- 
ers of the past — every one of which should be 
written in letters of g"old. They often labored 
when their work was not appreciated and under 
many discourag-ements, and with poor salaries. But 
they toiled on with a spirit of hope and enthusiasm 
that partook of inspiration. And when the g-reat 
leaders — the generals of the army — g-et their mede 
of praise, I always feel like taking- off my hat and 
making- my profoundest bow to the common soldiers. 



58 " OuK Pii.GKiM Fatheks." 

the workers who have made it possible for g-enerals 
to be, and who really have done the fig-hting-, recov- 
ered the land, and planted the standard of free 
schools in every valley and on every hill-top of our 
gflorious State. 

God bless the teachers, who, with inspiration 
akin to divinity, spend the best days of their lives 
in making" men and women in the obscure schools 
of the land. 

It is said of Dr. Franklin that when near the end 
of his g-reat life he exclaimed, "I was born a hun- 
dred years t<jo soon!" I feel, too, under the inspir- 
ation of this occasion, not that I was born too soon, 
but that I would like to take in yet another hundred 
years to see the works and wonders of the world; 
and to behold the teacher, in his full stature, g^lor- 
ious in his rig-htful domain, w^earing a crown — 
not the emblem of bloody battle fields and conquered 
peoples — but beg^emmed with such jewels as virtue, 
justice, reason, humanity; and triumphant over the 
inner and outer enemies of man, having- made money 
his friend and not his oppressor; and having- dis- 
solved with his scepter of reason all the trusts and 
sinful combinations that are born of avarice and 
greed; and smitten down, if need be, all the old 
political parties in the interest of a g-rand, new 
party of humanit}- and brotherly- love. 



William Godwin said of one of his novels that in writing- it he meant 
that no man when he laid it down should be the same man that he was 
when hebegran to read it. This is the spirit of the true teacher. Like 
the sower of the parable, he knows not which g^rain shall prosper, this or 
that; but his seeds are from the g-ranaries of God; and he scatters with 
penerous hand. Upon every pupil he will make his mark. He works 
with the confidence of a Michael Anrrelo that every stroke of the chisel 
tends to the creation of some fair ideal; and that, roug-h-hewing as his 
work maj' seem, in him and through him the Divinity shapes its ends. 

— Wi/lard. 





^- 


jy 


m 





Samuel Wii.lakd, A. M., M. 1)., LL. D. 



THE PRESIDENT'S INTRODUCTION OF 
DR. WILLARD. 

Charles E. Hovej was the president and Profes- 
sors Ira More and Newton Bateman were prominent 
in all the discussions of that Chicag"o meeting-. It 
is a remarkable fact that these three men have 
"passed to the beyond" since the prog^ram for the 
exercises of this evening- was arrang-ed. One of the 
last letters that Dr. Bateman ever received was an 
invitation to address you to-nig-ht. I have asked 
his life long- friend and classmate at Illinois Colleg-e, 
Dr. Samuel Willard, to fill the vacant place. 



ADDRESS OF DR. WILLARD. 

^^T^r^'^U^^'" says Emerson, "wears the colors 
I ^ of the spirit." Grief adds depth to the 
/ darkness of the nig-ht, while sunshine 

seems to exag-g-erate our joys. And yet sorrow sad- 
dens even the warmth and brightness of the sum- 
mer. That seems impertinent while we mourn a 
loss. One brilliant Aug-ust noon, to me the day 
suddenly seemed less brig-ht. No eclipse had dark- 
ened the sun; no cloud had dimmed the deep blue 
sky. But I had read the brief news that told of the 
death of one I loved and honored. Such eclipse all 
of you must have suffered in our brig-ht October,- 
all of you who personally knew Newton Bateman; 
and all who were not too young- to know of his work 
m education surely g-ave him the passing- tribute of 
a sig-h. He was, for a full g-eneration, one of the 
great influences of our State, both as a teacher and 
as an officer; and as I knew him fifty-seven years 
ag-o, and now no other survives who knew him as 
closely as I knew him during- our long friendship, I 
am bidden to present this brief memorial. 

Newton Bateman, of Eng-lish ancestry, was born 
m Bridg-eton, county seat of a southern county of 
New Jersey, July 27, 1822, and was a little over 
seventy-five years old at his death Oct. 21, 1897. 

63 



64 "Our Pilgrim Fathkrs." 

"Saturday's child must work for his living-" says 
an old rhyme; and so this Saturday's boy entered a 
life of toil; toil at first from stern necessity; toil 
imposed later by the spirit within that made him a 
helper of men, and found scant room for idleness. 

Of the boyhood in New Jersey I never heard Mr. 
Bateman speak. His father, Berg-in Bateman, was 
a weaver by trade: a trade which g-rew less and less 
profitable as modern manufactories sprang- up. 
When the boy was in his eleventh year, Mr. Berg-in 
Bateman fell into the g-reat current of mig-ration 
that was flowing- westward, and that promised new 
opening-s for business and enterprise. He came to 
Illinois in 1833, and landed at Meredosia on the 
Illinois river with five children and the corpse of 
his wife, dead of the new pestilence, Asiatic cholera. 
Our Newton Bateman was the young-est of the five. 

The family suffered the hard g-rind of poverty for 
many years. 

An elder son struck out for himself as soon as he 
had an opportunity, but never, as long- as I knew of 
him, was in condition to help the family much, up 
to his death in California. Little Newton, small 
for his ag-e — he never g-rew tall, dwarfed, probably, 
by the privations that hedg-ed in his youth — little 
Newton became an errand-boy in the family of an 
eminent jurist and judg-e then living in Jacksonville. 



Address of Dk. Willard. 65 

It was there that a great ambition was roused in 
the bo}'. The judge had a pretty daug-hter, sweet 
and lovely in temper. A passion of boyish love de- 
termined him to make such place that he mig-ht ask 
her hand on equal terms. He would g-o to the col- 
lege then rising on the hill west of the town; he 
would enter a profession, and then 

To that ambition, to that passion, I ma}' sa}", we 
are indebted for the Newton Bateman we have 
known. That hope carried him through a struggle 
of twelve 3'ears. He did not marry her at last. It 
is with no derogation from the young lady that I 
sa}' he did better, and so did she: each found a more 
S'liitahle partner: there are adaptions aside from 
individual worth. In speaking of these four, I 
speak of the dead. 

Of the youthful days that followed I can say lit- 
tle. They were heavy years to him. He once told 
me of spending cold days of winter at cutting wood 
with but a pone of corn-bread for his noonday meal. 
But the beautiful maiden and the determination to 
be more than a wood-chopper were never out of his 
thoughts: these sustained him. 

To the preparatory school connected with the col- 
lege he went, and entered Illinois Colleg^e as a 
freshman in 1839. 

Illinois College was the tirst colleyre in the State 



66 "Our Pilgrim Fathers." 

to form reg-ular classes and have a graduation. 
Our great war-g"overnor, Richard Yates, was of the 
first class, g-raduating- in 1835. Bateman entered 
its ninth class, and g-raduated in 1843. His class 
numbered ten, most of whom have shown a remark- 
able vitality: fifty- four years after their g-raduation 
day, six of the ten were living-; five of us still sur- 
vive at ag-es rang-ing" from seventy-four to seventy- 
nine. And the class proved above averag"e for 
ability and influence. 

How did we live in colleg^e in those days? Classes 
were small; as there were no hig-h schools or acad- 
emies in those daj-s, the colleg"es had preparatory 
departments; but all told the pupils then at Illinois 
hardly numbered seventy. Few were from wealthy 
families; many found it hard to g-et along-. Many 
boarded themselves; that is, they purchased food 
which they cooked and prepared in their own rooms. 
Bread we boug-ht; other thing-s we learned to make 
ourselves. We had only the ordinary heating- stoves 
of sixty years ag-o; on or in these we fried or broiled 
meat; boiled or fried eg-g-s, or scrambled eg-g-s, if 
skillful enoug-h; we made mush; baked potatoes or 
apples; and in our simple fare we had healthful 
food at little cost. During- his preparatory years, 
on one occasion, when funds were scanty, for two 
successive weeks, Bateman and his room-mate, (who 



AnDKESS OF Dk. Wii.lard. 67 

was afterward Dr. Aug-ustus F. Hand, of Morris, 
111. ), lived at the cost of twelve and a half cents a 
week for each of them. Their sole food was corn- 
meal mush of their own making-, eaten without 
milk, butter, syrup, molasses, or any other trim- 
ming- or relish. I think this experience was not re- 
peated. Such was the sturdy perseverance and in- 
dependence with which many a youth gained his 
diploma in those days. When Bateman and I were 
room-mates, as we were in our junior and senior 
years, I lived week after week at a food cost of 
sixty-two and a half cents; and he spent no more 
than I. We were glad to pick up any odd job to 
earn a little. I remember a student who was after- 
ward a major in our patriot army and a member of 
congress who was mortar-mixer and hod-carrier for 
the plasterers one summer. 

For light we could not afford candles ( this was 
before the days of coal-oil); we made strong light 
with a lamp of Greek style, lacking beaut}' of form: 
to-wit, a saucer of lard, with a wick made of a 
twisted rag projecting- over its edge. Such were 
our Diogenes-like economies. But when Bateman's 
son and mine went to college, there was quite a dif- 
ferent story. 

Bateman while in college was subject occasion- 
ally to fits of discouragement and almost of des- 



68 "OuK Pii.GKiM Fathers." 

pondency; but these were short, for he was, consti- 
tutionalh' and on conviction and principle, cour- 
ag-eous, cheerful and optimistic. Of all the class, 
he had the g-reatest sense of humor, and the keenest 
appreciation and enjoyment of pure fun. He en- 
joyed g-ood solid nonsense, like the verses of Kdwin 
Lear or the Adventures of Aliee in Wonderland. 
Perhaps no other man apprehends rationality so 
thoroug-hly as the man who also sees its contrast, 
the sham rationality of nonsense, and appreciates 
mirthfully the difference. The lack of such appre- 
ciation of the ridiculous leaves man a prey to prac- 
tical absurdities. 

Bateman never wrote serious poems, but often 
produced comic verses. He did not fry to be the 
wag- of his class; his fun was spontaneous, bubbling- 
out of a joyous heart; his laug-hs were the heartiest; 
he rejoiced in existence. His class-mate, Thomas 
K. Beecher, responding- to m^- announcement of his 
death, writes: "He alwaj's has been and will be 
'Newt. Bateman,' dear old boy that he was and is." 
Looking- at his subsequent life, I see that this ex- 
uberance of the comic was a relief to his supersen- 
sitive nature, and lightened many a load which 
those of sterner mould would have carried with 
clenched teeth and knitted brows. 

In the last year of our course a class in Latin of 



Address of Dk. WiLtAKD. 69 

the Preparatory Department was assig-ned to Bate- 
man for instruction, and thus he beg-an his true 
career. Graduating- in June, 1843, he planned to 
enter the ministr}- of the Presbyterian church, of 
which he was a member. He went to Lane Semin- 
ary. But lack of money caused him to leave the 
school, and take a book agency, an occupation less 
common then than now. He sold Lyman's Histor- 
ical Charts in map form, then a new work. He 
traveled in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and 
other states to the east, meeting- the usual rebuffs 
and occasional successes of such agents. He could 
afterward make fun of encounters that at the time 
were bitter enough. He came once to the verg-e of 
absolute beg-g-ary, when some one sent him relief 
anonymously. In the fall of 1845 he had g-athered 
a private school in what was then the northern part 
of St. Louis; and there I found him, jolly after the 
fashion of Mark Tapley, making- the best of a life 
of care and narrow means. But he was making- 
reputation; and in 1847 he was elected Professor of 
Mathematics in the University- of Missouri at Col- 
umbia. 

At this time Mr. Bateman was walking- along 
that dangerous ledg-e where many fall. The flow- 
ery path of dissipation tempting-ly invited him. 
His vivacity, wit, social spirit, and other attractive 



70 "OuK Pilgrim Fathers." 

qualities made him welcome everywhere, and espe- 
cially among- those of his own ag^e, some of whom 
were associates vvhom a better acquaintance did not 
tind worthy. Ag-ain love and honor saved him 
from these baleful companions. Soon after he was 
appointed professor, he married Sarah Dayton, of 
Jacksonville; not his boyish first fancy, but one 
whose sweetness, dig^nity and intellig"ence com- 
mended her to his manly judg-ment and love. She 
drew him g-ently awa}^ from dang-erous associates 
before they had tainted him. 

In 1861 the west district of Jacksonville estab- 
lished a free school, and called him to its head. 
Thenceforth he was felt as a power there and in 
meeting's of teachers. He became School Commis- 
sioner of Morg-an county. He threw himself 
zealously into the movements which founded the 
State Normal at Blooming-ton, the Agricultural 
and Industrial Colleg-e which is now the University 
of Illinois at Champaig-n, and into the work of the 
State Teachers' Association. This body made him 
vice-president for 1855 and editor of one number of 
the Jlli)wis Tcaclici\ a paper which they then founded 
by appointing- monthly editors. He was made sole 
editor for 1858. 

In the summer of that year he was, contrary to 
his own wish, made the Republican candidate for 



Address of Dk. Willakd. 71 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and 
elected in November. He did not wish the nomin- 
ation because of his friendship for his predecessor, 
Mr. W. H. Powell, and because he had just ac- 
cepted the principalship of the Jacksonville Female 
Academy, so that he felt that it would be unfair to 
its trustees and teachers if he should seek the office. 
Emphatically, the office soug-ht the man. I was 
his confidant in this matter, and speak with full 
knowledg-e. Another reason was that on May 16, 
1857, Death had suddenly taken from his arms his 
dearly beloved wife, mother of his only son and of 
a daughter. All his ambition fled away; and 
despite the native elasticity of his spirit, this stroke 
wounded him so deeply that I saw no ripple of a 
smile upon his face for a year. 

In January, 1859, he took his place as State 
Superintendent. The Free-School Law was not 
quite four years old, and was needing- from time to 
time interpretations and amendments in detail to 
facilitate its operation. He was made its judicial 
interpreter, his decisions having the force of law 
until over-ruled in court. Mr. Bateman paid much 
attention to these; but he seized upon the opportun- 
ity offered by his position to discuss in his reports 
principles and methods of education. These 
documents were lively appeals to the people. All 



72 "OuK Pii.GKiM Fathers." 

his reports are worthy of study. In the first, 1861, 
he discussed the cardinal principles upon which 
education by the State is based; the rig-ht of the 
State to lay taxes, to found schools and to require 
attendance, and its duty so to act. He obtained 
a law for the granting- of State certificates. 

His report at the close of his next term told the 
working- of the law for State certificates; the condi- 
tion of the Normal; the institutes held, etc.; he 
then discussed what schools should do in their 
teaching-; the}- should inculcate (1) submission to 
discipline and lawful authority; (2) moral rectitude; 
(3) should teach the theory and org-anic structure 
of our g-overnment; (4) should inspire love of 
country; and (5) "Education should be true in its 
conception, wise in its adaptation, and sound in its 
methods." 

Of course as this was written in the second year 
of the civil war, it is permeated with thoug-hts and 
feeling-s produced by that g-reat crisis; and I cannot 
represent Mr. Bateman better than by showing- at 
once his style and his temper in a quotation of the 
last pag-e of the report, g-iven in the winter of our 
adversity: 

"The results accomplished within the past four 
years are not commensurate with cherished hopes 
and earnest endeavors. Perhaps life has no sadder 



Address of Dk. Wii^i.akd. 73 

lesson than the conviction that the distance between 
the hoped-for and the attained must ever be so 
great. But the record is made up beyond revision 
or chang-e; and its elements must ming-le for good, 
or ill with the ever-moving ever-swelling- stream 
that bears to the waiting- future the thoug-hts and 
acts and etforts of to-day. 

"The past four years have been most eventful. 
When I entered this office in January, 1859, we 
were a united, powerful and prosperous people; as I 
leave it in January, 1863, we are in the fiery cruci- 
ble of war and commotion, if not in the throes of 
national dissolution. It sometimes seems like a 
horrid dream, from which we shall surely awake to 
find all as it was — one country, one flag-, one des- 
tiny. I yet have faith in God, in the patriotism of 
our people, and in the justice of our cause; but 
whatever the future may be, the sacred duties we 
owe to ourselves and our children cannot be neg- 
lected or deferred. Our solemn oblig-ations in these 
respects are not diminished, but enhanced by the 
perils and darkness which environ the nation. If 
the safeg-uards of a virtuous education are essential 
in peace, they are still more so amid the downward 
tendencies incident to a state of war. 

"I love the commonwealth of Illinois. Arriving- 
upon her soil in early childhood, all the years of 



74 "OuK PiLGKiM Fathers." 

ni}- youth, manhood and maturity are associated 
with her history and prog^ress. Her amazing- re- 
sources were then undeveloped, her g-reat career as 
a state just commencing-, P^or thirty years I have 
observed her growth, sympathized in her strug-g-les, 
and rejoiced in her prosperity. To-day she is the 
fourth state in the Unioii in population; and, with 
pardonable pride be it said, lirst in the Union in 
the relative number, if not in the heroic achieve- 
ments of her citizen soldiery. May the daj' never 
dawn when we shall blush to say, "I am an Illi- 
noisan!" I long- to see the g-reat State as distin- 
g-uished for the intellig-ence, integ-rity and honor of 
her people as she is for the elements of material 
wealth and g-reatness, that she may be prepared for 
the exalted destiny which God and Nature have 
placed within her g-rasp." 

Dropping- for the present his further reports, I re- 
turn to the year 1860. When Abraham Lincoln 
was nominated for president, a suitable reception- 
room for him in the State house was desirable. The 
State Superintendent had two rooms; he shrank 
into one and g-ave the other to Mr. Lincoln. Thus 
it happened that the two came into close acquaint- 
ance; and Mr. Lincoln found in Bateman an an- 
swering- spirit; he talked rather freely of his feeling's 
about slavery and the issues of the day, so that 



Address of Dr. Wii.i.akd. 75 

Bateman knew what impulses moved him, thoug-h 
controlled by the practical wisdom of the politician 
and statesman. Had Mr, Bateman recorded these 
conversations, we should have had an interesting- 
and confidential addition to the story of that g-reat 
life. I remember but little of what Bateman told 
me of them. 

In 1862, the other party carried the State, and 
Mr. Bateman was out of the office for two years. 
He became chief clerk for Gen. Oakes in one de- 
partment of the recruiting service of the United 
States, and I held a like position in another. In 
1864, the tide turned; he resumed his place, pecu- 
liarly his. place, which he held for ten years, 1865 
to 1875. His report for 1867 illustrated the value 
of education to men as soldiers; he named important 
places filled by the college-trained men in the war. 
The American idea of popular education and the 
relation of colleges to public schools were pre- 
sented. 

In 1869 he discussed various auxiliary agencies; 
school journals, county institutes, county superin- 
tendency, county normals, the State Teachers' As- 
sociation, the system of school-officers, State certifi- 
cates; and he gave one hundred and fourteen pag-es 
to an account of the rise, prog-ress and condition of 
the colleges, private seminaries and academies in 



76 "OuK PiiA'.KiM Fathers." 

the whole Stiite; he added the medical and commer- 
cial schools, and the public libraries. 

In 1871 he discussed natural science in schools, 
the benefits of hig-h schools, the educational rig-hts 
of children, and compulsory education. 

In 1873 he took up the new constitution in its 
relation to schools, absenteeism, public-school 
building's, with a warning" ag^ainst extravag-ance; 
and he discussed state uniformity of text-books, 
opposing- it. 

In 1875 he g-ave us his last word. He furnished 
in eig-hty-three pag-es a critical and classified list of 
books for the selection of school libraries; a lively 
sketch of a practical study of natural history; and 
then, under the title, "The Coming Teacher," in 
g-lowing- words, with vivid imag-ination and a warm 
heart, he set forth his ideal of what a teacher 
should be. I quote the first parag-raphs: 

"Throug-h costly experiments, splendid failures, 
and baffled hopes, we make our way toward the 
Aug-ustan Ag^e. As the Israelite awaits the re-advent 
of the lost g"lory of his race; the Christian, the 
dawn of the millennial day; and the millions, the 
coming of the 'g^ood time' when the earth shall be 
greener and the skies brig-hter, — so we believe in 
the Coming- Ag-e of Schools and Teachers. But for 
this inspiring- hope, this vag-ue but inextinguishable 



Address ok Dk. Wim.akd. 77 

faith and long-ing- for something- worthier and bet- 
ter, who of us would not at times be ready to drop 
the oar, and in hopelessness suffer the boat to drift 
anywhither — anywhither? Who of us is satisfied? 
Nay, who of us, comparing- the actual with the 
possible — the present with the hoped- for -axvA sJioiiId- 
bc and ma\-bc in the field of education, is not ready 
to exclaim, 'How long-, O Lord?' 

"In the rapt visions which come to me, as they 
come to all, I sometimes seem to see the apocalyptic 
gates swing open, and far down the aisles of the 
future, brig-htly revealed in the soft, clear light, 
there stands the Incarnate Idea of the Coming 
Teacher." 

Following the magnificent introduction, he de- 
picts his high ideal." 

In the later years of his superintendency he had 
several offers of college places; he advised with me 
on each, but said "no," till the Presidency of Knox 
College was offered him; that he accepted. What 
his work there was for eighteen laborious years, I 
have not time to tell. The college had needed for 
a long time just such a man. At once it began to 
rise. Money came in for its upbuilding. Students 
flocked in, summoned by the magic of his name 
and fame; the standard of education rose; young 
men who came under the charm of his influence 



78 "OiK Pii.(;ki:\i Fathf-'.ks." 

told of the new power they had felt. While doing- 
this work for his college, he was for several 3'ears 
an active member of State Board of Health. He 
was in demand for addresses here and there. He 
answered all calls to the full extent of his strength.-- 
Meanwhile his home grew solitary. His second 
wife, Annie Tyler, married in 1859, died in 1877; 
his four daughters married and left him; only an 
orphan niece remained with him tt) the end. 

But all the while there was creeping upon him 
that fatal disease of the heart that ended his sweet 
life. In 1893, on the anniversary of his graduation 
fifty years before, he gave his office into the hands 
of his successor, gladly laying down a burden 
which was becoming too heavy. Holding the po- 
sition of a professor emeritus, he taught only a 
single class. He also edited a work on the history 
of Illinois which was just completed at his demise. 
Finally the occasional spasms of distress became a 
constant and increasing- misery that culminated 
Oct. 21, 1897, in the final relief. 

Politically, in 1840, when he was not yet a voter, 
Bateman inclined to the Democratic party, which 
did not for many years thereafter become the serv- 
ant of slavery; but in 1856 he voted for Fremont; 
and while he was a Republican thenceforth, he was 
not, except during the war, an ardent partisan. 



Addkkss oi-' 1)k. Wii.i.aki). 79 

Ho was too well aware of the evils of party g'ov- 
ernment to be a hearty partisan. 

In relig-ion, in like manner, he was of a most lib- 
eral spirit, unwilling- to strug-gle for forms and 
creed; and after the period of fermentation that fol- 
lowed his leaving- Lane Seminary, he returned to 
the reverent attitude of his youth. He had a grow- 
ing sense of the importance of practical goodness 
that rests upon an inspired inner spiritual life. 

Dr. Bateman was exceedingly tender, sympathetic 
and loving. The strokes of bereavement seemed to 
fall crushingly upon him. The loss of his son 
Clifford, a bright young- professor in Columbia Col- 
lege, nearly overpowered him. During the war he 
felt for days and weeks the agonies of every slaugh- 
terous battle. I am of the opinion that such sensi- 
tiveness may have disturbed the function of the 
heart, and laid the foundation for the final ailment. 
His attachments to his friends were singularl}' loyal 
and strong. 

While his pupils of the district school and of the 
college will long remember the clear-minded and 
gentle teacher, stern onl}- in necessity, Dr. Bate- 
man's greatest influence, like that of Horace Mann, 
to whom he was often compared, was in those elo- 
(juent reports which set up ideals and stirred the 
hearts of those that read them to a new purpose 



80 "OUK PlI.GKIM FaTHEKS." 

and a new hope. His decisions on the school law, 
g-athered in a volume, made a text-book for school 
officers; but his appeals to teachers and to the peo- 
ple were not law, but g-ospel, the revelation of new 
and better ways, with encourag^ement to walk 
therein; the invitation to a perpetual ascent. Like 
the angel in the Apocalypse, he was saying", "Come 
up hither, and I will show thee." This influence 
passed the bounds of Illinois, and is still spreading-. 
We may say of it as Tennyson says in the Bugle 
song, speaking- of the long echoes of the bugle tones: 

"O, love, they die, in yon rich sky; 
They faint on hill, or field, or river; , 
Our echoes roll, from soul to soul. 
And grow, forever and forever." 



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